DV wrote:Plastic surgery will not give you the abs shown in that picture.

Actually, I had heard that there was an "ab sculptor" plastic surgeon in CA who made it his job to "carve" out the grooves around the abs for people who wanted the perfect 6-pack. T-Mag did a feature on it some time ago when their editor had the procedure done just to see how much improvement he could get. However, that was for people who were already with flat stomachs - in Pink's case, it's not a viable option.

Yeah, the skin issue is a tough one. Even when I went down to 192 lbs. and looked absolutely scrawny, I still carried a little paunch in the front because that's where I had stored so much of my fat during the heavy days, and it simply did not want to go away. I could have PROBABLY fought to get rid of more of it, but that would have required obsessively working to lower bodyfat with everything I had, and that gets old quick.

I think he can make a fair amount more progress to probably reduce what he has by another 30-50%, but beyond that, if there's way too much loose skin there won't be much more that can be done. You won't really know until you're pretty well down to a very low bodyfat percentage everywhere else - if you're ripped in all other areas but the stomach is still loose, then that's a problem that won't likely go away on its own. I've heard from people who lost massive amounts of weight that sometimes, that skin just never goes back to normal, but usually it won't be "squishy" but just very, very loose.

One of my wife's friends who'd had 4 children had a similar problem with skin - she had her weight fluctuate a lot over the years between pregnancies (up to around 230, down as low as 130), and in the end, after her last baby, she dieted down to around 140 and was getting lean but had a kangaroo-like pouch of fat from all the weight fluctuations. She opted for plastic surgery - and let me say, skin removal isn't all that fun from what she has relayed to us.

First of, expect that it may cost upward of $5000 for a reputable surgeon (hers was $7k, on the higher side), and she had tubes coming out of her to handle the drainage for over a month after the surgery was complete. She was on bed rest for around 2 weeks, and the 2 months was basically light duty work, no lifting over 15 lbs., and she was in a lot of pain for about a solid month before she began to feel normal again. Also, depending on how the skin removal goes and how much is taken off, in her case they actually had to do a bellybutton reconstruction, which was pretty freaky. Basically, when they pulled the skin to tighten it, her navel area was not correctly aligned, so they had to actually re-sculpt it for her. Having that done adds on to the cost, but hey, if you don't mind looking unusual, it'd be a conversation starter to whip up your shirt and make up some crazy stories about how you were a cloned human or were hatched from an egg

Anyway, I'd say that more can be done to reduce the stomach area, but as far as having flawless abs, that may not be so easy. Just keep working on building a little more muscle and trying to drop more fat and in time, it will at the least look and feel better than it does right now.

VeganEssentials wrote:Also, depending on how the skin removal goes and how much is taken off, in her case they actually had to do a bellybutton reconstruction, which was pretty freaky. Basically, when they pulled the skin to tighten it, her navel area was not correctly aligned, so they had to actually re-sculpt it for her. Having that done adds on to the cost, but hey, if you don't mind looking unusual, it'd be a conversation starter to whip up your shirt and make up some crazy stories about how you were a cloned human or were hatched from an egg

Is it odd that I've always considered this one of the benefits of a tummy tuck? If they had to take off enough skin that my bellybutton went with it, I wouldn't want a new one.

beforewisdom wrote:Look up cubby's old posts. He was huge, had a loose skin problem, started bodybuilding, still has a TINY amount around his abs but looks excellent.

Yeah, with how those pics look right now, I would say you still have a bit of body fat to lose before you opt for surgery. I still have a little pouch and I would like to have the skin tucked down the road since it probably won't be that bad of a surgery for me considering my pouch is fairly small now. Once you have a visible four pack and still have a pouch, it will probably be time for surgery. That is where I stand right now.

The metric system is socialized measurment. If you implement it it will only be a matter of time before your grandma will stand in front of a death panel being forced to deny the existance of baby Jesus.